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Respect Your Readers 10/28/2012 7:45:09 AM
The time-honoured bond between the author and the readers... In this crazy business we call fiction writing, you learn quickly in order to survive you must grow a thick skin. It is a fact, no matter how great your storytelling skills; you will soon discover not everyone is going to love your story. Some will even brazenly admit they hate your works, but if it’s of any consolation, even bestselling authors like J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer and Dan Brown have their detractors. Still, it can sting when your work isn’t received the way you had hoped.
Though no one likes to hear criticism, the only way we can hone our skills is to learn from our mistakes than to hide from them. In truth, I don’t like the ‘haters’ that spew venom, but I do respect the reviewers when they are able to give specific examples of why they didn’t like a book. Whether it is a writing style that can really use work; a plot full of holes; characters that are poorly developed or act totally out of character, assessing your work through the readers’ eyes can often help to improve your writing, if that criticism is truly constructive.
But one of the things nobody tells you about when you launch that first novel is how to react when you receive a bad review. I’ve seen one too many, both bestselling traditionally published authors and indie authors, go absolutely mental, attacking the reviewer online for the whole world to see, in a bid to justify the quality (or lack thereof) of all their blood, sweat and tears.
Rarely does the reviewer come off looking badly for voicing their opinions, especially if their criticism is backed by hard fact. It is the author that comes across looking badly when they fail to approach it in a professional manner, instead, attacking the reviewer for giving their opinion.
Here’s the thing: as hard as it can be, the true test of your integrity and professionalism as an author is how you deal with it. When it comes to taste and what we like, or don’t like, it’s all very subjective. I’ve had two agents in the past, both of whom thought my works were worthy of finding a home with a big name traditional publishing company, but others felt is was not for them, as well as a couple that wanted me to contact them once the film for the first novel goes into production. (A Warrior’s Tale is in development now and filming is slated to begin in late spring/early summer of 2013).
But I digress… This post is about respecting the readers. It is a very simple concept and quite easy to do.
I try to take the time to chat with every reader who contacts me, whether it is via Twitter, FB or through my website, if they have a question. It means taking the time to sign the books they’ve lugged along and stood in a line-up to get it signed by you, and yes, it also means smiling for a photo, if they want one, even if you don’t like being photographed.
This respect also comes before your book is published. This means doing everything you can to make your story a great read. Whether it means hiring a professional editor, or if this is too great an expense, working with a critique group and Beta readers that can give you honest feedback.
Since starting on Twitter, I’ve had some writers ask me to critique their work. Because of time constraints, I rarely do this now, but when I did, it is the rare few authors that will accept and appreciate my advice. (The last one that did, Ms. Jessica Subject, had the talent, but just needed a bit of guidance. She has since gone on to become a multi-published sci-fi author!) However, with the last two cases, I don’t know why these authors even asked me to do this, as their books were already published, but after some persistence, I agreed to take a look at the first chapter.
With both books, I only got through the first few pages if that. Both wanted my honest opinion. (Like what, I’m going to lie?) So I gave it to them. With the first, I gave specific examples of passive verbs. In the first paragraph alone, a character walked. He never strutted, marched, stomped, dashed… Nope, he just walked. On this first page, the character also looked. He looked across the field, he looked at the fireworks in the sky and he looked across the market. He never gazed, stared, glanced, squinted, he just looked everywhere at everything, even when he chanced upon someone he wanted to avoid, he looked at the villain, then walked hurriedly the other way.
When I pointed out these examples, he responded that the readers like the book just the way it is. He went on to explain how his book is in the Top 100 on Smashwords and shared his clever ‘marketing’ approach to getting his book to this ranking. Instead of impressing me with sales, he admitted that he had given away thousands of ebooks. As Smashwords doesn’t differentiate between a sale and a freebie, it artificially boosted his ranking.
When I asked why would he do this, he said that by setting his book in the Top 100 group, it bettered the chance an agent or publisher would see it and pick up his novel. Sadly, I had to tell him that my agent would never fall for this. She was never impressed with the number of books that can be given away. She, like most agents, was only interested in the actual sales. Plus, she would also tell him the writing has to be up to snuff.
This author also told me that by having his book in this ranking, it would encourage more people to buy, because it must be good to be on the Top 100 list.
This to me, is no better than engaging in ‘sock-puppetry’, whether it is paying for good reviews, trading good reviews with fellow authors, or posting glowing reviews under another name. (Yep, I’ve seen this, too! When the review is pocked by the very same typos and grammatical errors as the book, and there’s a veiled attempt at hiding the author’s name, you can’t fool me.)
To me, this is just plain deceptive; tricking the book-buying public to read a book that is not all that the ratings purport it to be.
The second reader I agreed to critique also had a book he already published, but I felt compelled to read the chapter after he told me how well received his novel was. This read did not last long either.
On the first page, I found a glaring misplaced modifier, amongst other things. When I pointed this out, the author explained his editor must have missed it. This was followed by a “What’s a misplaced modifier?”
I explained what it is, and by the sentence he had structured, it left me wondering who was crying: the mother, her child trapped in the cage, or the actual cage?
He laughed it off, saying that the readers know he was trying to get across that it was the mother who was crying. (And here, I thought it was the child that was in tears, even though the misplaced modifier implied it was the cage that was crying!)
Here’s the scoop, folks. You, as the writer, know what you’re trying to say, but don’t assume that your readers will. One of the most common mistakes I’ve found has been the misplaced modifier. As a courtesy to your readers (especially those who spend their hard-earned money buying your books, and then invest time they will never get back when they read it), don’t adopt a cavalier attitude that they should know what you’re trying to convey.
Reading should be a joy, not a struggle.
All I’m saying is to respect your readers enough to put out the best possible story. Yes, I know! Even in books written by bestselling authors and published by the Big Six publishing houses have their typos, missing words, etc. Heck, even I have them and I had two professional editors appointed by my former agent go over my first novel. But as I said in a previous post, Terry Brooks, one of my favorite writing teachers shared this with me: “People do the proofreading and editing; therefore, one must make allowances for human error.”
The readers will be forgiving if the novel is compelling and the mistakes are small and do not detract from the story. He also went on to say, “People are far more forgiving if they read a story they love and it has a few typos, but what is unforgivable is for people to spend money on a book that is technically perfect, but the story falls flat.”
The point is, if you know there are ways to greatly improve the quality of your story or you’re suddenly aware of something as glaring as misplaced modifiers (which could really define if you are a professional or amateur writer), respect your readers enough to do something about it. It is never too late to take creative writing classes. If you can’t afford a professional editor, then turn to a trusted critique group or partner. Also get honest feedback from your Beta readers and use the constructive criticism to hone your writing/storytelling skills.
Although you may never appeal to everyone’s tastes, at least honour this bond you have with your reading audience to give them your best effort. If you don’t respect your readers, they won’t be back for more. And without our readers, we are nothing.
Thank you for reading my post!
